Dance of Courtship
by waveringshadow
Summary: Shiro drags Keith to a party in an attempt to get him to socialise, but Keith is determined to keep to himself. That is until a certain tipsy young man stumbles into him and forces him to join the party, with the help from some of his friends. Just some College AU Klance fluff.


**Hi there! This was my first Voltron fic I wrote a while back and posted on Tumblr when I was bored of study. I have since added more to it but ultimately this is just fluff to keep me sane. Thanks for reading!**

Keith tapped his fingernail impatiently at his beer bottle as music pulsed through the soles of his feet and rang through his head in the form of an indistinct cacophony of sound. The beer bottle was mostly full so his nail just made a dull thunk against the glass as he leant back against the yellowing plasterboard. He could feel the house stretching and straining at the seam and he peered through a lock of hair at the effervescent scene before him. His roommate Shiro had instructed Keith that he was to do something social by the end of the year, and the best way of doing that was by supporting Hunk who, apparently, was a good guy who was making a genuine attempt to include everyone. A girl wobbled past with a plate of food and Keith had to snatch a morsel as it went past, the girl nearly falling into him in the process as her ankles gave up at staying upright in her high stilettoed shoes. Parties may not have been Keith's scene but, he had to admit, the food was amazing.

He had lost Shiro in the crowd of people, as Keith knew would happen. The older student was the sort of person that was friends with everyone, and was too polite to tell anyone to go away. Unlike Keith. While Keith was never blunt enough to actually speak the words 'go away', he had the uncanny ability to transmit that notion from every cell in his body to the point where there was always an area of clear space between him and the rest of the crowd. It was that privacy Keith was enjoying as he half-heartedly studied the writhing group dancing in the middle of the room and the lit up faces of those who milled on the outskirts of said group, having meaningless conversations only half heard over the pounding music. Someone had set up some disco lights and various faces were lit up in blue and pink; paintings of euphoria.

Keith's bubble, which previously had been penetrated only by the shrieks of elation and the vibrations of the room itself, was suddenly burst by a gangly young man stumbling into him. His warm brown skin glowed as his face was flushed with the delights of beer. Beer that was now splattered all over the floor and the wall behind him, barely missing Keith himself. Keith leapt up, his blue eyes sparking as this boy stumbled back from him, his long fingers wrapping protectively around himself as he blinked wide-eyed at Keith in shock. The mostly empty cup he was holding tilted awkwardly in his hand as he held his arms against himself. There was a tense pause between the two as they eyed each other. Keith's mind whirred as he tried to remember how to talk to people, but instead all he could see in his mind was glowing cheeks, ruffled brown hair and wide sea-blue eyes. He felt his cheeks grow warm.

"Lance!" A tall girl shoved past Keith and grabbed Lance's wrist, muttering grumpily to herself about always having to babysit this 'pathetic little infant', beginning to drag him away from Keith, promising to come back to clean the mess that Keith was still standing in.

"Heeeeyyyy, Alluuuurra," Lance slurred, leaning over her shoulder flirtatiously, blinking his long lashes slowly.

"Ugh, you know what, you can fend for yourself," she pulled Lance off her shoulder, showing an amazing amount of strength, and shoved him onto Keith. "You can hold the baby while I find a cloth," she grumbled, flicking her long silver hair as she turned away.

Keith's eyes bulged as he stared down at the man melting in his arms. Lance's chin rested on Keith's chest as he smiled languidly up at the blushing Keith through his lashes, his lanky body folding awkwardly as Keith attempted to hold him upright and not spill the bottle in his hand. "Yoooou'rrre pretty," Lance manage to say as he fluttered his lashes up at Keith. Keith's cheeks were on fire now as he struggled not to drop the man in mortification. The drunken mess called Lance managed to reach his arm up and tug at Keith's hair, "Yourrr mullet's ssstupid though." Keith's face dropped into a glare as he held Lance out from his body to stare at him scrupulously.

"Your freckles are stupid," Keith retorted. Lance's face screwed up as if he was trying to take offence, but his facial muscles were too loose to respond properly so he quickly gave up and instead sighed and gave a low chuckle. Lance struggled out of Keith's arm and turned to slouch against the wall behind Keith. However, in the process, Keith's beer bottle was up-ended and its contents were spilt all down his front.

"You're stupid," Lance peered through slitted eyes at Keith who stood frozen with the mostly emptied glass bottle in his hands.

Keith narrowed his eyes. "You're more stupid." Lance just laughed some more, throwing his head back against the wall and wrapping his arms around his waist as he let loose a sound of pure mirth. Pure. That's the word that described him, Keith decided. Pure joy, pure love, pure idiot. Keith became painfully aware of the metre of empty space between them. The same metre of space he had been enjoying just moments before.

"By stupid, you mean goorrrrgeous, yeah?" Lance smirked at him in a lopsided grin. Keith felt something happen to his insides, but he refused to accept that it could be his heart beginning to melt.

Keith crossed his arms. "I don't know what you're talking about." Another crooked grin. Lance's arm reached forward through the charged space between them and tapped Keith on the nose.

"Oooh, the sstoic type." He leant his head back against the wall, his hair forming a golden halo around his head. "I could work with that."

Keith was frozen in that moment; long lashes brushing freckled cheeks, an echo of a grin on his overly expressive mouth, forehead smoothed into an expression of bliss.

And then they were pulled back into reality.

"I told you to hold him, not flirt with him!" Allura scolded as she pushed between the two young men and shoved paper towel onto the pool of liquid by Lance's feet, stomping a booted foot on it impatiently. She eyed the front of Keith's shirt and shoved the roll of paper towel into his chest. "The last thing he needed was encouragement."

Lance gave Allura a cheeky grin and put an arm over Keith's shoulder. Keith stiffened briefly, but Lance blinked his lashes over the tropical ocean that was his eyes and Keith held back a smile as he turned to look back at Allura. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Lance hummed happily to himself. "Yep, definitely can work with that."

The music changed and suddenly Lance was swept back into the impermeable writhing mass of the party, leaving Keith once again an isolated island in the ocean of crazed delight. Having discovered his patch of wall occupied by a couple that was slowly melting into the one entity Keith found himself wandering around the house look for a place that held the mirage of peace. A couch pushed off to the side of the room became Keith's best option, though he did have to share it with one other occupant who was perched on her end of the couch with a laptop in her lap that highlighted the glitter that had been smeared on her cheeks and was reflected in the glasses that filled the large majority of her face. She peeled her eyes from the screen to scan over Keith who sat stiffly on the other side of the couch.

"You get dragged here too?" He nodded. "Who you here with?" She was short and to the point. He pointed over to where Shiro was laughing with a large group of people, too many of which were flirting heavily with him. Keith resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Her eyes lit up in a wry smile. "Oooh, you're with the popular kids?"

Keith snorted. "Only by default." Her grin only grew bigger.

"Well if you're hanging out with me you can only get cooler."

"Oh?"

She flipped her short hair mockingly. "I'm a cool kid too." She held out her hand. "My name's Katie, but everyone calls me Pidge." He took her hand reluctantly.

"Keith."

Her eyes were wicked. "Nice to meet you Keith." She went back to tinkering on the laptop balanced on her folded legs. As the silence fell between them Keith was left to go back to watching the chaos of light and sound set out before him. The music was high energy and he could see Pidge's leg jiggling up and down to the beat in the corner of his eye. But his attention was drawn in once again by that boy, the one who just earlier could not stand up straight, but was now somehow brought back to life by the music as if the beat itself controlled his body. He had ditched the girl Allura in favour of the large man that could only be Hunk, whom Keith only knew through mutual acquaintances. His face was lit into a huge grin lit by the orange and yellow glow of the party lights. He bopped along happily as Lance somehow danced circles around him. Keith suddenly noticed the lack of the clacking of keys and he turned to see Pidge staring at him perceptively, one side of her mouth pulled into a crooked grin.

Keith sensed danger in the way Pidge smiled sinisterly at him. She held his eyes as she called, "Lance!" As Keith's eyes bulged in alarm he found himself face to face with the alluring man once again. "Lance, I believe this man requires someone to dance with."

"Oh no, no dancing-," Keith began, but Lance was already pulling him to the floor. He glared at Pidge who just held his eyes as she purposefully clicked a key on her laptop, resulting in a change in music. The typical pop dance beats were overtaken by the screech of brass instruments and Lance swept him around to the upbeat jazz that just beckoned to be danced too. They met Hunk in the dance area and Keith noted that the man must be permanently smiling.

"Hunk," Lance began, escorting Keith like a prom date, "this is Mr Dark and Brooding."

"Keith," he corrected, hoping the coloured lighting hid the redness in his cheeks.

"Nice to meet you Keith," Hunk grinned. "Did Pidge get you?" Keith glared at the small girl who was still happily tapping away at her computer in answer. Somehow Hunk's smile got wider. "Yeah, don't be fooled by her appearance, she makes a great wingman." He winked and then disappeared into the crowd to talk to others. Lance took this chance to twirl Keith around as the music swelled and closing his eyes began to move to the beat. Drawn in by the music and his fluid movements, Keith happily watched the man in his element. But the music ended and the trance was broken. Lance grinned at him happily as he panted in the moment of silence before the next song started and suddenly Lance was drawn in by a group of girls that cheered as he twirled himself into their group. Keith stared for a moment before breathing a sigh of relief in search for another lonely corner.

()()()

As the party slowly began to dissolve Lance watched as Keith left the house with Shiro by his side, friendly conversation passing easily between the two roommates. He collapsed next to Pidge and sighed as they watched Hunk somehow already begin to clean up. "Did you get him?" he asked.

"Yup," Pidge replied simply, sitting up as she snapped the laptop closed. "I sent you his number." Lance's face slack with weariness pulled into a tired grin. "See you soon Mr Dark and Brooding." And then he was out.


End file.
